Almost, back to normal…
More people eager to have proper vacations after a 2-year covid quarantine, more days of strong wind, more friends taking up winging, less personal endurance due to aging, and less guitar playing due to a changing environment.
Usually, we look for a September Paros comeback, but it did not materialize.
Well, a most pleasant addition to our gathering, was the presence of our good friends William & Lissa, who came all the way from Atlanta US, to spend some time with us. William is a keen sportsman and a strong supporter of Hitthewave, through windsportatlanta.com.
I’m sure he had a good time, not only because he said so, but because he was sailing longer than anyone else, while I can hardly recall a July with so much daily wind. He is a lucky guy!
Instead of a description of the fine conditions, I will share with you a short hand-held video I shot, of Giannos windsurfing & Dimitis (young addition to the PWS club) winging: https://youtu.be/h8GpIE7_Eew
All the windsurfing-addicted friends were sailing regularly and again a series of photos are better than words to give you the image.
William charging
Alkis jumping a slalom board
Christos on his signature move
Dimitra charging on gift board
Flo carving behind Christos
Flo flight
Julie downwind
Julie upwind on a men’s day
Kostas P. jumping fun
Kostas V. downwind
Mari on my AV BT87, ready to use the ramp Roland just did
FREESTYLE
Lutz downwind
Peter downwind
Sailing with Mimi
Sailing with Sylvie
Sotiris on Flikka FR
Testing the AV BT 87
Sasha early bird sailing
Winging is picking up, so more & more pictures will come along while soon I will get winging contribution from Alekos – the most experienced winger among our group.
Alekos winging
Mari wingfoiling
First single-handed wing rescue by Giannos
Winging first ride – I hate the lifevests…
Arnauld could not make it for testing PLANCHEMAG material in NG beach, so I was not motivated for testing (if this is a good excuse for my ageing…).
The ones that were seriously testing the time I was there, were the guys of Delta Team.
Delta Team of Giannis Gennimatas was there training, and the 2 riders Apostolos Grigoropoulos & Filippos Iatrou were testing among other things, the new fins Giannis is developing.
The evaluation of his fins is done with a direct comparison of the best-known fin brand products, and ergometric data is recorded, showing heart rate related to speed, which translates to the ease of achieving & maintaining that high speed. In the attached graph, the (left) first session is with the well-established fin, while the (right) second session, is on the Delta Team fin. The graph shows with blue the speed and in red the heart rate. It is clear, that the Delta fin, allowed the rider to sail at higher speed, with much less effort – anyone competing, knows what that means!
The Delta fins are available in 1cm increments in sizes 30-45
For a very short time, due to wind drop, I had the pleasure to try one on my wave-slalom Copello, and it felt great. I look forward to exploiting them further…
SAFETY
Unfortunately, the guidelines for safe navigation & avoidance of the watersports area by motor boats are not followed, resulting in scenes like the one I recorded, with Konstantinos K. being closely blocked here…
Incredible sailing sunset beauty
Thank God, Summer is not that far and we will once more have the joy of all meeting & sailing together.
zaosan
Hitthewave 